Jeffrey D. Sadow is an associate professor of political science at Louisiana State University Shreveport. If you're an elected official, political operative or anyone else upset at his views, don't go bothering LSUS or LSU System officials about that because these are his own views solely.
This publishes five days weekly with the exception of 7 holidays. Also check out his Louisiana Legislature Log especially during legislative sessions (in "Louisiana Politics Blog Roll" below).

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27.9.12

Politicians who know better have thrown their support behind a statist
scheme that will make matters worse regarding power provision in emergencies,
when the solution to reduce the incidence of post-emergency problems lies in
the opposite direction.

Sen. David
Vitter, joined by Jefferson Parish President John Young, ask
state government to set in motion constitutional changes to allow any of a
private company, private/public partnership, or government to take over
forcibly a utility deemed to be underperforming. Incredibly, they argue
it “would inject real competitive pressure” into power provision.

Let’s see if we have this straight: according to these guys,
government’s bringing its power to bear to achieve an outcome it desires by
fiat, where the decision-making doesn’t have to have anything to do with
customer service but instead may be captive to fulfilling dozens of allied (on
this issue) different special interest agendas for dozens of different reasons,
is what defines “competition?” There’s zero guarantee that this action of
stripping a company of its assets, even at fair market value, would not reflect
a hidden agenda driven by political considerations.

26.9.12

Veteran political observer John Maginnis wonders
whether Gov. Bobby
Jindal wants to set up the Legislature for something. Maybe so, but perhaps
not in the way he imagines.

As state budgetary pressures continue, the Jindal Administration has
had to start pruning state spending, to the consternation of legislators who
are prone to taking more seriously than deserved interests with outsized
influence complaining about unanticipated cuts to, if not closures of, colleges,
state hospitals, indigent health care, and prisons. Maginnis speculates that
the situation created allows Jindal to have his cake and eat it, too, with the cuts
encouraging legislators to revisit tax exemptions next session that he has
promised to veto changes to and go around him. Already a special
panel is meeting to review the exemptions.

Constitutionally,
to repeal an exemption requires a two-thirds majority in each chamber, a
difficult standard to achieve. But Maginnis argues the Legislature could suspend an exemption with
a majority vote, because the Constitution allows suspension by the same vote required
for enactment, which in the case of any law that reduces taxes requires only a
simple majority (those that serve to increase them requires two-thirds votes). Further,
this could work for an extended period of time, as the Constitution permits the
suspension of a law to last as many as 60 days past the end of the next regular
session – if done next year, as late/long as early August, 2014. With governors
unable to veto concurrent resolutions like this, theoretically Jindal could try
to goad legislators into going for it, criticize the move, and then budget the
extra dollars with them, keeping his anti-tax increase credentials spotless
while getting budgetary breathing room.

25.9.12

The beginning of this week marks the grand experiment of making New
Orleans a two-newspaper town again, as its longtime occupant at the end of the
week will defer from publishing every day with an outsider starting to publish
daily. Regardless of what happens, those interested in state and local politics
likely will end up better off, one way or the other.

The owners of the New Orleans
Times-Picayune earlier this year decided to go to a thrice-weekly print
publication schedule and to concentrate on online delivery. The privately-held
firm has stated cost considerations as the factor in an industry that has shown
dramatic contraction as digital delivery makes an inexorable march to becoming
the medium of choice. Already, a sister publication, the Ann Arbor (MI) News, has gone completely digital, and other outlets
in the chain are making a similar transition as is the T-P.

This decision prompted the Baton
Rouge Advocate to announce a foray into publishing daily in New Orleans,
although with a barebones operation that would cover only news and some sports.
This may appear audacious in a market where the dominant market leader, in one
of the highest-penetration newspaper consumption areas in the country, asserts
it cannot stay in business in the long run with daily printing. Why that’s the
case The Advocate’s bigwigs need to
understand if they don’t want the black ink used in publishing to be overwhelmed
by the red ink from financial losses.

24.9.12

Usually, you have to punch bullies in the nose to stop their behavior.
The Louisiana state electorate and some smaller parts of it did so to anti-reformers
concerning education, but now parties interested in disclosure must step up and
really drive the lesson home.

As noted
previously, a handful of school employees invested in the current
underperforming system got up recall petitions against Gov. Bobby
Jindal and several state legislators, the due date for Jindal’s and at
least some of the others expired last week with the expected
failure of the efforts, sending a reminder that these defenders of the status quo have lost in the marketplace
of ideas. In fact, despite much bragging and boasting about how there was such
a groundswell of opposition to the politicians based upon their support of
education reform and a number of publicized events designed to collect
signatures, in all likelihood hardly any were gathered.

But the public can’t confirm this because the organizers continue to flout
state law concerning the process. It’s very clear on this: the organization’s
chairwoman must produce signatures within three days upon request, unless
already filed with the secretary of state when he must do it. However, the
organizers, citing some phantom fear of “retribution,” refuse to follow the law
and plan to hold onto the petitions, raising the possibility that they will try
illegally to recycle them in a future effort against Jindal or the lawmakers.

23.9.12

Even this space will make a mistake once in a blue moon, and that even
the best sometimes do so should be kept in mind when evaluating the incorrect
rationale by which the normally-incisive Institute
for Justice tries to oppose regulation by New Orleans regarding licensing
of tour guides.

For many years the city has required licensing
of tour guides, an ordinance spottily if ever enforced until very recently.
The city maintains the rules, which include passing a knowledge exam
administered by the New Orleans Tourist and Convention Commission, completing
satisfactorily a criminal background check, requiring a fee, and wearing of a
badge, designed to ensure the safety of and provide high quality service to
those contracting for a guided tour for hire. Some guides declare the rules intrusive
and a restraint of trade, but local governments through powers granted to the
states by the U.S. Constitution have the power to regulate in this area.

However, the Institute argues differently in its donated defense of a
few guides challenging the ordinance, arguing that this constitutes a freedom
of speech question. They don’t want to submit to the background checks, which they
don’t see as reasonable especially as they have to pay for these in addition to
the license fee, and the Institute argues that the marketplace will sort out
whether the public will pay for guides that don’t seem to be worth it. Hence, in
this view the city has no compelling argument to override free speech concerns,
where government may restrict in this instance only when the health and safety
of the public could be threatened.

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